White House press secretary reportedly asked to leave Lexington restaurant

[mahatmakanejeeves]

White House press secretary reportedly asked to leave Lexington restaurant

By Jacob Demmitt 3 hrs ago

LEXINGTON -- White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was told to leave The Red Hen, a Lexington restaurant, on Friday night, according to a multiple social media posts.

“Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for@POTUS [the president of the United States] and I politely left,” Sanders tweeted around 11 a.m. Saturday morning. “Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so.”

Sanders’ post follows a Friday evening post by Facebook user Jaike Foley-Schultz, who reportedly works at Red Hen.

“I just served Sarah huckabee sanders for a total of 2 minutes before my owner asked her to leave and she complied,” Foley-Schultz wrote. “Her family left on their own accord, we didn't actually refuse service or ‘kick her out.’”

The news spread nationally Saturday morning, as Washington, D.C. politics site The Hill first picked up the social media chatter. Others, including Fox News and TMZ, followed suit.

Jacob Demmitt covers business and technology out of the New River Valley bureau.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders says she was kicked out of a Lexington restaurant

Link to tweet

https://twitter.com/newsadvance

[brewens]

1. Time for people to push back hard. We had a reporter heard asking Trump why he was lying about the

child abductions. When he lies, call him out on it in public. Start shutting down and cutting away to other news if he lies. We can get the rundown on what he said without watching his bullshit and hearing him repeat himself. Let the bubble heads in their FOX "News" bubble suck all that up.

More and more of my friends are feeling like we need to hear from our conservative friends that they realize they fucked up. As it stands now, I can't see associating with any Trump supporters from now on.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. These tweets are two hours apart

These tweets are two hours apart

Link to tweet

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Trump trash talks Lexington restaurant that booted Sanders

Trump trash talks Lexington restaurant that booted Sanders

Jun 25, 2018 Updated 5 min ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday trash-talked a Virginia restaurant that asked his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, to leave because she worked for his administration.

{snip the fatuous tweet}

Images of the restaurant online appear to show no evidence of serious disrepair, with clean-looking green awnings and white paint on the doors and trim.

The restaurant's co-owner, Stephanie Wilkinson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday, but she told The Washington Post that her reasons for booting Sanders included the concerns of employees who were gay and knew Sanders had defended Trump's desire to bar transgender people from serving in the military.

Several other Trump administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, have been confronted in public in recent days amid intense fury over an administration policy that led to a spike in the number of migrant children being separated from their parents after crossing the border illegally.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Political controversy at Lexington's The Red Hen

Political controversy at Lexington's The Red Hen

Jun 24, 2018

The owner of the Lexington restaurant The Red Hen was thrust into the national spotlight Friday evening after she declined to serve White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.



People dropped off signs to show support for the staff of the Red Hen Restaurant in Lexington, VA on Saturday afternoon. The Red Hen Restaurant refused to serve White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and her family on Friday night.

NATHAN KLIMA | The Roanoke Times

{snip}



Tom Lomax, a local business owner, dropped flowers off at the Red Hen Restaurant in Lexington to show support for the staff on Saturday afternoon. The Red Hen Restaurant refused to serve White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and her family on Friday night.

NATHAN KLIMA | The Roanoke Times

{snip}

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. Trump criticizes restaurant that asked Sanders to leave; Virginia GOP urges boycott

Trump criticizes restaurant that asked Sanders to leave; Virginia GOP urges boycott

From Richmond Times-Dispatch and wire reports 17 hrs ago

President Donald Trump on Monday took to Twitter to attack the Lexington restaurant that asked his press secretary to leave and the Republican Party of Virginia circulated an online petition urging Virginians to boycott the eatery. ... “The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders,” Trump tweeted. “I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!”

The Associated Press reported that photographs of the restaurant appear to show no evidence of serious disrepair to the red building with hunter green awnings and white doors and trim, though recent images appear to show some awning wear. ... The restaurant’s most recent health inspection, reported by the local news site Patch and available online, includes no record of violations. Inspectors noted “good food/unit temperatures,” said staff members had clean uniforms and aprons, and observed “excellent job on code-dating.”

The Republican Party of Virginia tweeted Monday: “Once again, the intolerant left has shown its true colors.” It urged people to sign a boycott petition “to show the Red Hen that patriotic Trump supporters are the silent majority in Virginia!”
....

Robert Denton, a longtime Virginia political analyst and head of the Department of Communications at Virginia Tech, said he was “alarmed” by the Lexington incident and by a Saturday rally at which Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, urged people to harass members of Trump’s Cabinet when they encounter them at places such as restaurants, department stores and gasoline stations. ... “I certainly think it reflects the intensity of the polarization that we’re seeing,” across ideologies, across parties, “across our dinner tables,” said Denton, who last year wrote a book called “Social Fragmentation and the Decline of American Democracy” with Ben Voth, an associate professor at Southern Methodist University. ... As for the state of politics, Denton said: “I think we’re getting to a dangerous point — tribalism almost at its worst.”

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. Protesters gather outside Red Hen restaurant as owner steps down as director, Main Street Lexington

Protesters gather outside Red Hen restaurant as owner steps down as director of Main Street Lexington

By Amy Friedenberger [e-mail] 981-3356 14 hrs ago

LEXINGTON — A man drove past The Red Hen in Lexington on Tuesday afternoon and tossed a bucket of chicken manure on the sidewalk beside the restaurant and shouted “make America great again,” according to police.

He was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, the only arrest that day outside the still-closed restaurant. A few dozen protesters, onlookers and police gathered outside the restaurant, which has been closed since Friday, when the owner Stephanie Wilkinson declined to serve White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The episode triggered a sharp divide in reactions in the country, from people praising Wilkinson for standing up to the Trump administration to criticism over a lack of civility toward someone with opposing political opinions.
....

By Tuesday, Wilkinson stepped down as director of Main Street Lexington, which works to improve the city’s downtown. ... “Considering the events of the past weekend, Stephanie felt it best that for the continued success of Main Street Lexington, she should step aside,” said Elizabeth Branner, president of the Main Street Lexington Board of Directors.
....

Amy Friedenberger is the politics reporter for The Roanoke Times. She's been a reporter here since 2014. Previously, she worked for newspapers in Pennsylvania. Follow her on Twitter at @ajfriedenberger.

Happening Now Outside The Red Hen Eatery {VIDEO}